The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 08, 2002, Page 4, Image 4
4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, March 8, 2002
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IN OUR OPINION
Spring break
survival tips
Among midterms and papers, this week has also
been filled with a Spring Fling Carnival, Late Night
Carolina and Happy Hour at the Blatt — all alcohol
free ways of promoting a safe spring break.
While the message not to “get caught in a pinch”
might sound cheesy, it’s also true. Spring break can
present many potentially dangerous situations for
students, most of which can be easily avoided.
For example, it seems as if at least one person gets
drunk and rails oil a balcony
Have a fun spring every spring break. So if you
break: Having your drink, do it safely. Designate a
Stomach pumped driver, and generally avoid
is not fun. Having drinking near an open
your credit cart window or on a balcony
stolen because A ,, .
you're careless is Another senous ,hreat 18
not fun. Spending sexual assault The 11)1 has
spring break in a cautioned students that a
hospital is not fun. serial raPist misht be on hls
way to Panama City, Fla., but
potential attackers lurk everywhere. Watch your
drinks while you’re out and don’t accept drinks from
strangers. Also, the best thing a friend can do is
watch out for the safety of other friends.
Above all, remember to have fun over spring
break. Having your credit card stolen because you’re
careless is not fun. Drinking so much that you have
to have your stomach pumped is not fun. Spending
spring break in the hospital is not fun. Waking up
next to someone you don’t know is not fun.
What is fun is taking a week’s vacation away from
the stress of college. This week, The Gamecock
relieves you of the challenge to make your college life
productive. Instead, just have a good time.
Gamecock Quotables
“Whatever pain and
discomfort we’re about to all
undergo out there is really
nothing compared to what
cancer patients face every
minute.”
FRANK CANNING
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LEUKEMIA AND
LYMPHOMA SOCIETY PRIOR TO FIDLER 5K
“Can you believe it, man?
There’s still beer over there.”
GRAHAM MITCHELL
BARTENDER AT ROCKAWAY ATHLETIC CLUB,
WHICH BURNED DOWN TUESDAY
“It didn’t take a gunto a head
to make these people vote; it
took a knock. We’re talking
about students at Carolina,
y’all; we all know what
they’re like.”
CHRISSY STAUFFER
DAVID BORNEMANN'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER
“This is a very important
need to bring another dorm
on line, so it is moving
s^iead.”
RUSS MCKINNEY
use SPOKESMAN, ON PLANS TO BUILD WEST
QUAD
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.
ABOUT THE GAMECOCK
Mary Hartney
Editor in Chief
Ginny Thornton
News Editor
Kevin Fellner
Asst. News Editor
Mackenzie Clements
Viewpoints Editor
Carrie Phillips
The Mix Editor
Justin Bajan
Asst. The Mix Editor
Chris Foy
Sports Editor
J. Keith Allen
Asst. Sports Editor
Brandon Larrabee
Special Projects
Adam Beam
Contributing Editor
Martha Wright
Design Editor
Page Designers
Crystal Dukes, Sarah
McLaulin. Katie Smith,
David Stagg
Kyle Almond
Copy Desk Chief
Copy Editors
Crystal Boyles, Andrew
Festa, Jason Harmon,
Jill Martin. Paul Rhine
Mark Hartney
Online Editor
Corey Davis
Photo Assignments
Photo Technicians
Robert Gruen, Candi
Hauglum
Kelly Petruska
Community Affairs
i
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Offices on third floor of the Russell House.
Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com
University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
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Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Online: www.dailygamecock.com
Newsroom: 777-7726
EDITORIAL BOARD
Kyle Almond.
Mackenzie Clements.
Chris Foy, Mary
Hartney. Brandon
Larrabee. Carrie
Phillips, Ginny
Thornton. Martha
Wright
STUDENT MEDIA
Erik Collins
Faculty Adviser
Ellen Parsons
Director of Student
Media
Susan King
Creative Director
Carolyn Griffin
Business Manager
Sarah Scarborough
Advertising Manager
Sherry F. Holmes
Classified Manager
Creative Services
Derek Goode. Todd
Hooks, Earl Jones,
Jennie Moore,
Melanie Roberts,
Beju Shah
Advertising Staff
Betsy Baugh,
Amanda Ingram,
Denise Levereaux,
Jackie Rice, Stacey
Todd
i
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student newspaper of
the University of South
Carolina and is
published Monday.
Wednesday and Friday
during the fall and
spring semesters and
nine times during the
summer with the
exception of university
holidays and exam
periods. Opinions
expressed in The
Gamecock are those
of the editors or
author and not those
of the University of
South Carolina. The
Board of Student
Publications and
Communications is
the publisher of The
Gamecock. The
Department of Student
Media is the .
newspaper's parent
organization. The
Gamecock is
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Department of Student
Media.
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CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Take care of yourself this spring
BETHANY MITCHELL
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Use campus resources
to make sure you’re
healthy this season.
This month marks the
beginning of spring, my
favorite season. It’s when men
and women start acting crazy
just because a little heat gets in
the air.
But this season shouldn’t be
focused only on the cute guys
and girls.
Instead of looking at other
people’s bodies all spring, we
should also be looking at — and
taking care of — our own.
Students on this campus
don’t use the resources we have
around us. When was the last
time you had a physical? If
you’re overweight, and
therefore prone to diabetes and
heart disease, see the dietitian
on campus and hit the Blatt P.E.
Center. If you’re scrawny and
couldn’t make a muscle if
someone paid you, you need to
holla at the gym.
Most importantly, if you like
to do the nasty, go to the bottom
of the Thompson Student Health
Center and get the important
things you need to wear.
Now don’t get me wrong: I
don’t promote premarital sex.
But the reality is you’re going
to do it anyway. So be protected,
not stupid.
For some reason, minorities
don’t think STDs, health
problems or other life
threatening conditions could
ever affect us. Well, if you didn’t
know, here’s some startling
statistics from the South
Carolina African-American
HIV/AIDS Council:
♦ One of three Americans
with AIDS is black.
♦ One of four infected men is
black.
♦ One of two women with
AIDS is black.
♦ One of three babies born
with the virus is black.
So why do minorities
sometimes think they’re
exempt? Everyone should be
worried about their health. But
people get caught up in the
moment and think, “He doesn’t
look like he has anything,” or
“She’s not really nasty, is she?”
But, truthfully, you’ll never
know.
The Health Center gives free
information and confidential
testing for STDs.
There’s no excuse not to get
checked and do your part to
stop a growing epidemic.
Listen, I’m not here to
preach. But we need to wake up.
Your health is important to me,
even if I never meet you.
So check out what this
university has to offer. Use
your tuition for-something
bigger than your education:
your life.
Get the most out of your
college experience, and be
healthy this spring.
Mitchell is a third-year electronic
journalism student.
IN YOUR OPINION
Politics saved Patel
in SG elections
Ank'it Patel isn’t an angel
being harassed and accused
by “Big Bad David
Bornemann.” Just like our
most recent U.S. presidential
election, there are many
technicalities that most of us
don’t understand and many
brash and unnecessary words
being said about both
candidates.
In other words, there is no
clear winner in either
election. One had to be
chosen, and now we must live
with him and move on. Of
course, there are going to be
people who feel that they must
cry out against Patel
receiving any infractions and
bash Bornemann in The
Gamecock by dragging his
honest character and many
services rnrougn rne mua.
Bornemann has been caught
drinking, and, now, Patel has
been caught cheating.
But the elections are over. I
believe Bornemann fervently
wanted to serve this student
body and felt he could do it
best. So, when he saw the
elections slip away from him
in the runoffs because of
election fraud committed by
Patel, he must have felt
cheated.
Bornemann pledged to run
a clean campaign at the
beginning of this semester. He
was the only one who did have
a clean campaign; there are
no infractions on the his
campaign. Only when he felt
that the outcome of the
election had been swayed and
the student body was being
misrepresented by Patel’s
political scheme did he decide
to act.
Previous letters to the
editor make me sick. The
complete ignorance of most
USC students still amazes me,
yet explains a lot. This entire
election has been about who
can pass out more fliers and
who has more dirt on their
record. With the help of
Patel’s cronies, this election
has successfully ridiculed and
eliminated a wonderful and
honest person with a clean
campaign. Here’s what I have
to say about Patel’s
“principle, not politics”
slogan and his entire cheating
campaign: It turns out politics
is what really saved the
election for him after all. So
congratulations, Patel, on
your win. Hail to the chief.
ANN ROBSON
FIRST-YEAR BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT STUDENT
Students elected
cheating officials
For those of you who have
been a victim of incessant
campaigning these past few
weeks, I would like to shed
some light on the intricacies
of what Student Government
refers to as the “election
process.”
As a candidate who won his
respective election, I’m in a
unique position to give you an
insider perspective of the
system without having what
might be referred to as “sore
loser” bias. With this in mind,
I can sum up the elections
process at USC in two words:
corrupt and illegitimate. The
actions I’ve witnessed these
past two weeks are absolutely
mindboggling.
The journey begins with
the Student Senate campaign
for the College of Liberal Arts.
Just hours before voting
began on VIP, the individual
who would later become the
largest vote recipient in the
college (Zachery Scott) was
caught flagrantly ripping
down election posters of his
rival candidates as well as a
presidential candidate.
Despite the fact that a
violation was filed, and that
the election was even
contested based on the
grounds of election fraud, the
♦ READ MORE LETTERS TO THE
EDITOR ON OUR WEB SITE,
WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM.
Elections Commission made it
clear that a candidate can’t get
disqualified from a race, no
matter how many posters are
ripped down or how many
witnesses saw the actions take
place.
Instead, the entire incident
was swept under the rug. Not
surprisingly, the elections
debacle doesn’t end there. Even
in the runoff race, we saw a slew
of elections violations once the
word got out that a candidate
was caught ripping down
posters. Not a single action was
taken; it was basically open
season for a no-holds-barred
election. President-elect Ankit
Patel capitalized on this by
going door to door the night of
the election, violating a myriad
of election codes. Not
surprisingly, this, too, will go
unpunished, and David
Bornemann will go home a loser
because of one reason: He
played by the rules.
As for the students here at
USC, do you think we elected
the best leaders? Not hardly.
What we did was elect those
individuals who can cheat the
best. I think, as a student body,
we must all drastically re
evaluate our elections process
and send a message that we
want the most qualified
candidate, not those that can
slip through the cracks of
justice.
J. D. SHIPMAN
FIRST-YEAR POLITICAL SCIENCE
STUDENT
Submission Policy
Letters to the editor should be less than
300 words and include name, phone
number, professional title or year and
major, if a student. Bring letters to
Russell House 333 or e-mail
gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. The
Gamecock reserves the right to edit for
libel, style and space. Anonymous letters
will not be published. Outside
submissions supporting or opposing a
candidate or a party in any election will
not be run the day before or the day of an
election. Call the newsroom at 777-7726
for more information.
SG SPEAKS
SG should
party it up
BROOK BRISTOW
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
A party system might
get students to actually
care about elections.
So when is the win-at-all
costs, steel-cage-match battle
that is an election going to end?
By your yawning, I sense
something: Who actually cares?
That seems to be a consensus.
We don’t care, and we’re tired of
reading about it. That seems to
be one thing that people
involved with Student
Government never seem to get.
Why don’t people care? It’s
easy: Democracy is voluntary,
and it’s not an existing practice
at Carolina. And it’s kind of
hard to make people care when
campaign teams are on Greene
Street being more aggressive
than a Zipsheet guy on speed. So
let’s talk about reforming the
process.
First, let’s have our leaders
* step up. Every year they remind
us why we elected them. And
upon evaluation, it always
seems to be that voters get the
short end of the stick.
Candidates need to be honest.
Telling the truth takes bravado,
but sometimes little phrases like
“Sure, I’ll call,” “Wow, I always
wanted one of these” and “Yes, I
will take out the trash” are
coaxed into our vocabulary so
that we don’t breach the
contract of social civility.
But it shouldn’t be that hard
to do. Candidates shouldn’t only
be honest, but they should also
be able to take criticism. Or, at
the very least, take negative
publicity with a 500-pound bag of
salt.
Being a candidate means
putting yourself out there on
display for everyone to see,
ridicule and judge. And by
people chastising candidates, it
does nothing but set off
emotional launch codes that
leave them sour toward the
process and more pissed off than
a Kennedy after last call.
Anyone can give their two
cents, but you have to give them
their due. If someone says
something negative about you,
walk away from it and let it go.
True, criticism can cut harder
than an acid-coated Ginsu knife,
but there’s a little thing known
as the First Amendment backing •
up what people say. Tune out
things that offend you; if you
don’t like what’s on, change the
channel.
it s easy to criticize a
campaign. Each candidate has
his or her own agenda, and most ,
have a campaign manager and
staff who put the student body )
through the same ordeal every
year. However, there is a way
out of this vicious cycle.
Candidates should be allowed
to run on a ticket — either as a
president-vice president pair or
as an entire executive branch.
Nothing positive comes from
having the top two offices oppose
each other.
Even if they have different
“territory” — the vice president
has the Student Senate and the
president the Cabinet — a like
minded partnership would be a
much more powerful one-two
punch.
Think of it as a little
bureaucratic handholding that
can only lead to better things for
this university.
The possibilities are endless.
Parties would form, involving
more students and creating an
efficient SG would be a
necessity. If one party fails,
another would sweep the next
election.
By changing the process, we
change the status quo, which is
way overdue. It’s time to party
up.
Bristow is a fourth-year
advertising student and Student
Senate president pro tempore.